Amazon Q Developer vs Gemini Code AssistComparisonUpdated 2026-03-18
SUMMARY
Amazon Q Developer (CLI) uses markdown configuration while Gemini Code Assist (IDE) uses markdown. They differ on 4 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.
FEATURE COMPARISON
| Feature | Amazon Q Developer | Gemini Code Assist |
|---|---|---|
| Config format | markdown | markdown |
| Hierarchy support | ✗ | ✓ |
| Global config | ✓ | ✗ |
| Project config | ✓ | ✓ |
| Subdirectory scoping | ✗ | ✓ |
| File inclusion / imports | ✗ | ✗ |
| Ignore file | ✗ | ✗ |
| IDE integration | CLI | ✓ |
| Schema / structure | Free-form (Markdown) | Free-form (Markdown) |
| Git committed | ✓ | ✓ |
| Encoding | UTF-8 | UTF-8 |
SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES
Amazon Q Developer
.amazonq/rules/*.md
markdown
# React Component Standards
## Purpose
Ensure consistent React component patterns across the frontend codebase.
## Priority
High
## Instructions
- Use functional components with TypeScript
- Define props interfaces above the component
- Use React.FC only when children are expected
- Colocate styles using CSS Modules (*.module.css)
- Extract hooks into separate files when reused
- Memoize expensive computations with useMemo
- Use React.lazy for route-level code splitting
Gemini Code Assist
GEMINI.md
markdown
# Project Rules
## Overview
E-commerce platform built with Go microservices and React frontend.
All services communicate via gRPC with Protocol Buffers.
## Go Services
- Follow standard Go project layout (cmd/, internal/, pkg/)
- Use structured logging with slog (not log or fmt.Println)
- Error handling: always wrap errors with fmt.Errorf("%w", err)
- Database access through repository pattern in internal/repo/
- All public functions must have godoc comments
## API Design
- Proto files live in proto/ directory with buf for linting
- Use field masks for partial updates
- Pagination via cursor-based tokens, not offset
## Testing
- Table-driven tests for all business logic
- Use testcontainers-go for integration tests
- Minimum 80% coverage on internal/ packages
- Mock external services with gomock interfaces
## Do Not
- Use global variables or init() functions
- Import internal packages across service boundaries
- Commit generated .pb.go files (CI generates them)
KEY DIFFERENCES
Amazon Q Developer: Not supported. Gemini Code Assist: Supported.
Amazon Q Developer: Supported. Gemini Code Assist: Not supported.
Amazon Q Developer: Not supported. Gemini Code Assist: Supported.
Amazon Q Developer: CLI. Gemini Code Assist: Supported.
WHICH SHOULD I USE?
Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Amazon Q Developer, configure .amazonq/rules/*.md. If you use Gemini Code Assist, configure GEMINI.md. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.
PORTABILITY TIP
sync-instructions.sh
bash
# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md
SEE ALSO
Tool pages:
File references:
agentconfig.ing2026-03-18COMPARE(1)